2 Koreas expected to hold high-level talks this week: Seoul official
Earlier, the ministry said that it proposed holding such a meeting earlier this week and that the North has yet to provide a response.
"Consultations between the two Koreas are still under way. It is expected that we will have the meeting this week," ministry spokesman Baik Tae-hyun told a regular press briefing.
The meeting will focus on discussing follow-up measures to the agreements by South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during their historic summit held April 27 at the truce village of Panmunjom.
Moon and Kim signed a joint declaration in which they agreed to halt all hostile acts against each other, open a joint liaison office in the North's border city of Kaesong and vowed various economic cooperation efforts.
They also agreed to hold a reunion of families divided by the 1950-53 Korean War on the occasion of the Aug. 15 Liberation Day.
With regard to controversy sparked by a media report over the 12 North Korean female restaurant workers who defected to the South in 2016, Baik reiterated the government stance that it is closely looking into the relevant issues.
The manager and 12 female North Korean restaurant workers defected to the South in April 2016. The government has said all of them came here voluntarily, while Pyongyang has called for their repatriation, saying that a Seoul spy lured them to the South.
Last week, a local cable TV network aired an interview with the restaurant manager, who said that he threatened other employees to come with him to the South at the instruction of Seoul's spy agency.
